Zola
Zola ' is a character in the third installment of the ''Battle Arena Toshinden video game series. She made her first and only appearance in Battle Arena Toshinden 3, as an unlockable counterpart to Sofia, with a similar moveset to her. Her physical appearance is based on Selena Kyle, also known as Catwoman of the Batman franchise and she also exhibits some of the same feline behavior as her, including scratching herself with her foot before a round begins, running on all fours, rubbing her head against her whip as one of her win poses and embarrassedly grooming herself if she is defeated when being controlled in a single-player gameplay mode. Story Zola is a popular and well-renowned Austrian opera singer who has long doubled as an assassin for the Soshiki. While most people see Zola as a beautiful and attractive opera singer, when having donned her mask and prowls in the shadows of society, others see her for who she really is; a mistress of evil who uses her charm, beauty, and kinky cat-like behaviour to distract and surprise her targets, enabling her to kill them with her razor-sharp whip. Very few can match against Zola in terms of combat and that she's considered to being one of the most dangerous assassins of the Soshiki. Long before the start of the 1990s Toshindendaibukai, Zola was once lovers with Amoh in the Organization, but Amoh soon participated in that decade's Toshindendaibukai, and lost his life to Sho. Unable to bear the grief of the loss of her lover, her twisted sorrow bent into bitter resentment against the world and life itself soon saw her become one of the Organization's fiercest and feared assassins. Before the Organization's first sponsored Toshindendaibukai, she found a new relationship in Ten Count, a newly feared assassin in their ranks, but she admits that she is in for the action more than anything emotional, as she feels nothing can replace Amoh. Under orders from Abel himself, Zola had ventured forth to the third Toshindaibukai in the hopes of eliminating her specific target and long-time rival, the Russian private detective Sofia. However, Zola then began to hear rumors that Amoh had a son. Wishing to learn further about Amoh's son, she would eventually come to meet Kayin Amoh, who was also targeted by the Organization. Meeting with Kayin unmasked, they would frequently come to date behind Ten Count's back, and with Zola mysteriously appearing on time after Kayin's close encounters with Organization henchmen. However, though the two began to develop something close, Zola felt deep down that still she could not neither replace Amoh or be with Kayin, and for Kayin, he also felt that neither he could be close to her either due to his dangerous profession and tumultuous life. With their last date in Atlantic City, the two would then part ways forever, starcrossed and saddened by inescapable fate. In heartbreak and emotional turmoil, Zola again tried to channel her anger and negativity, but even this did not give her fearsome killing edge as it did in the past. Knowing that Sofia was tracking down Rachael and had info on Organization activities, Zola decided to plant a false lead and lead Sofia to an vacant nightclub in New York City to finally kill her mark. The two ladies had battled against each other with their speed, agility, and sharp whip-wielding skills and techniques upon sight and even though Zola is considered to be the fastest whip-wielder of the Soshiki, Zola was unable to concentrate, and her ability ultimately was no match against Sofia's own, whose training in the natural fluid movements of her whipfighting gave her more of an unpredictable edge, and eventually slayed Zola with the use of her Salamander. Appearance Zola is an Austrian woman with medium length purple hair, blue eyes and wears a black and dark pink cat mask. Her notable outfit is a black and charcoal gray sleeveless revealing catsuit with a diamond design to show her cleavage and black pantyhose and black knee high boots. She also has a dark pink warmers and wears black opera gloves which is improvised to resemble cat claws with two purple lines and has a black shoulder pauldrons in each side of her catsuit. Her alternate appearance is still her primary outfit and the color of her catsuit and her color accents on her pauldrons are orange. Her alternate costume is a Matsuri festival costume as opposed to her catsuit primary outfit. She wears a red and white Japanese jacket with white bandages to cover her breast, sarashi shorts and red sandals. Her cat mask is replaced with a kitsune mask and her purple hair is tied in a high ponytail. Move Lists As Sofia's counterpart, the color of Zola's lightning projectile is green and her secret move is fire based instead of being lightning. She has the most damage on whipping her opponents than Sofia's. The name of the moves are based on the classic opera music and it's compositions due to her occupation as an opera singer. Special Attacks *'Flash Prelude: '''Zola shoots a green lightning projectile from her bladed whip. She also does this in mid-air. *''Splash Hold *'''Star Execution: '''Zola will multiple whiplashes to her opponent several times with her bladed whip in a style of star shape. This is the opposite version of Sofia's Rattlesnake. *'Golden Ballerina: '''Zola spins herself along with her whip in slow motion if it connects. *'Cat Tail: 'Zola can make a flexable back heel kick to damage the opponent. Overdrive *'Jealousy Symphony: 'Like her counterpart, Sofia. Zola will taunt her opponent and unleashes a spinning kick along with her bladed whip multiple times if it connects. It is also has a poor recovery time when her opponent dodges while taunting. Secret Move *'Hatred Waltz: 'Zola heavily whips her opponent in flames and unleashes several whiplashes to her opponent in a blaze. Unlike her counterpart, Zola's move is fire based instead of lightning. Desperation Move *'Jealousy Rondo: 'Like her counterpart, Sofia. Zola unleashes a spinning whip to her opponent to make heavy damage if it connects. When she hits it to her farther opponent, it becomes a weak damage. During the execution, Zola is able to control her spinning whip unlike her counterpart. Development According to development notes, it is stated that Zola was later given a ''Doronjo/''Catwoman'' influence to her character design to help emphasize her wicked and tumultuous nature. Zola was imagined as a more evil counterpart to Sofia per the core concept of the "irreconcilable clash of good versus evil", as an explicit BDSM practitioner; one with a devil motif with spiked anklets and bracelets with a spiked whip, to a masked leather clad BDSM practitioner commanding a boa constrictor as her weapon. Quotes Like her counterpart Sofia, Zola speaks differently in both languages as she speaks in a vengeful manner in Japanese while in English she speaks in American accent with a flat and timid voice and does not spoken the lines when executing her soul bombs and her desperation move. '''Win Animations: * "Purrfect!" * "That wasn't much fun!" '' * ''"Extraordinary!" Moves: * "Flash Ring!" (Unleashing Flash Prelude) * "Golden Ballerina!" ''(When unleashing either ground or mid-air) * ''"Hurting your mind!" ''(Executing Star Execution) '''Overdrive:' * "Without already you feel my pain! ''(Unleashing Jealousy Symphony) '''Secret Move:' * ''"Cat's Trap!" ''(Unleashing Hatred Waltz) Trivia * Pop singer and actress Britney Spears during her official music video "Break The Ice" in her animated appearance has her performed Zola's Cat Tail to knock on one of her main enemy's mutated henchman during her infiltration to destroy her animated android versions of herself by planting a detonating device before she kills her main enemy by kissing him to death by forming the cybernetic parts in his body until she escapes from the explosion made by her by throwing a smoking grenade on her enemies. Gallery zola.jpg zola2.jpg Category:Battle Arena Toshinden 3 Category:Organization Category:Characters